Ladder for sleeping-cars.



w. A. 000mm. LADDER FOR vSLEEPING CARS. APPLICATION FILED MAR. 19, 1910.

Patented Apr. 18, 1911.

witnesses WILLIAM ARTHUR COOPER, OF MONTREAL, QUEBEC, CANADA LADDER FORSLEEPING- CARS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed March 19, 1910.

Patented Apr. 18, 1911. Serial No. 550,451.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM ARTHUR COOPER, a subject of the King ofGreat Britain, of the city of Montreal, Province of Quebec, Canada, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Ladders forSleepingCars; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full,clear, and exact description of the same.

My invention has for its object to provide a ladder adapted to beattached to the upper berth and extend therefrom to the floor of the carat a suitable angle for mounting and at the same time be supportedindependently of the means attaching it to the berth.

The invention may be said to consist of the particular construction andcombination of parts hereinafter set forth. For full comprehension,however of my invention reference must be had to the accompanyingdrawings, forming a part of this specification, in which similarreference characters indicate the same parts and wherein- Figure 1illustrates the ladder in side elevation and a portion of the berth; intransverse sectional view; Fig. 2 illustrates in front elevation a.ladder constructed according to my invention and attached to a berth;Fig. 3 is a horizontal sectional view of the ladder, the section beingtaken on line A A Fig. 2; Fig. 4 is an enlarged detail sectional view ofthe upper portion of the ladder and illustrating the slidable hooks andbrackets in side elevation; Fig. 5 is a detail bottom plan view thereof;Fig. 6 is a side elevation of the bracket; Fig. 7 is a plan viewthereof; and Fig. 8 illustrates the blank from which the bracket ismade; Fig. 9 is an enlarged detail view of a portion of the side bars ofthe ladder proper and illustrating the sockets formed therein, and Fig.10 is an enlarged detail view of the locking means. Fig. 11 is a detailview of one of the guides for the locking means,

My improved ladder is made up of longitudinal side bars I), stepstherebetween and supporting legs 6 pivoted to the side bars. The stepsare cut lengthwise through the middle, the front portions f whereof arecarried by the side bars I) and the rear portions 9 form part of anextension ladder member the side bars 71. whereof are grooved to engageribs 2' carried by and extending from the bottom to the top of the sidebars 6 thus effecting a sliding connection between the two laddermembers and permitting vertical movement and preventing lateraldisplacement of the extension member relatlvely to the main supportingmember.

The top step of both ladder members is of sufficlentlength to overlapthe side bars and the portion of this step on the extension member byresting upon the top of side bars 7) acts as a stop limiting thedownward movement of the extension member, the portions of the ends ofthe side bars I; overlapped by the part 9 of the top step beingreinforced by a metal plate 70.

The inner sides of the side bars Z) have sockets z" in line with theunderside of the upper steps and additional sockets j located a shortdistance above and below the first mentioned sockets and locking meanscarried by the extension member coact with these sockets, the object ofthe series of which is to enable the extension member to be supported atdifferent heights for the purpose of accommodating different heights ofberths.

The above mentioned locking means is carried upon the under side of thebottom step of the extension member and consists of a pair of bolts 79operated by a handle 9 through a pinion r mounted rigidly upon the shaftof the handle and engaging a pair of racks 8 connected to the bolts,such looking means being contained within a housing constituted by acasting presenting a chamber Z, sleeves m at opposite ends of thechamber and bosses n accommodating screws 0 for securing the housing tothe step. The bolts are guided in the sleeves m and a pair 'of bracketsu, having bosses o through which they are secured to the step by screwsw.

For attaching the extension member to the berth I provide a pair ofslidable hooks 2 having downwardly inclined ends 3, such hooks beingcarried in a air of brackets secured to the underside o the top step ofthe extension member and these hooks are adapted to be shifted to havetheir hooked ends either protrude beyond the edge of the step or lieback of such edge, by a pair of fingers 5 and lips 6 projectmg from apair of brackets fastened to the underside of the top step of the ladderproper. Each of these brackets comprises a tplate 7 having the lip 6 anintegral art 0 one end, an angular bracketarm 8 a so an integral partofthe plate having a pin fixed to the end thereof and constituting thefinger 5. The lips are bent to an angle of to act as guides for thetails of the hooks as they descend with the extension ladder member,while the edges of such lips, when acted upon by the tails of the hooksas they ascend, project the hooks to engaging position.

Operation: When the extension member is raised, the inclined ends of thehooks engagethe edges of the lips 6 and are forced out into position toengage the edge of the upper berth and when the extension member israised to the required height it is locked in position relatively to theladder proper, by turning the handle 9 thus shooting the bolts intoeither pair of the sockets (2" and j). When the extension member islowered the underside of the inclined ends 3 of the hooks engage thefingers 5 which has the effect of drawing the bolts in beneath the topstep.

Although I have illustrated and described the detail construction of theextension ladder I do not herein claim the same as itwill form thesubject matter of a separate application.

What I claim is as follows:

1. In an extension ladder for use in a sleeping car, the combinationwith a ladder proper and an extension member, of a movable devicecarried by the extension member for engaging the berth, and means forautomatically shifting the said movable device to and from engagingposition, including a pair of members carried by the ladder proper andadapted to engage the said device to move it in different directionsupon raising or lowering of the extension member.

2. In an extension ladder for use in a sleeping car, the combinationwith a ladder proper and an extension member, of a pair of slidablchooks carried by the upper end of the extension member and formed withinclined ends, a pair of brackets fixed to the ladder proper and eachpresenting a lip and a finger adapted to accommodate the inclined end ofa hook between them, and automatically shift the hooks as the extensionmember-is raised or lowered.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification, inthe presence of two subscribing witnesses.

WVILLIAM ARTHUR COOPER.

Witnesses WILLIAM L. MoFnA'r,

STANLEY C. KING.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents, Washington, I). C.

